Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1887-11-25
THE SINISTER LAWYER.
CHARACTERISTICS OF A CLASS WHO
DISGRACE THE PROFESSION.

vorce Proceedings and How Conducted
by tho Shyster-Other Tricks.
There is O code of ethics among lawyers,
though never lawyer appeared ir a ro-
nance or a drama who ever appeared to have
any ethics beyond "Get case fairly If you
can, anyhow if you must" The code of eth
les is, in brief, that one must not drum up
cases, that cases must come to the lawyer, or
rather be sent to him by his friends or clients.
The poor devil of a lawyer who never gets
clients to talk up his merits, and hasn't a
friend who would refer case to him, sticks
to ethics as long as possible, but ethics don't
feed him or clothe him. The big guns hold
all the practice worth having, and the p d.
get his pay il thanks or mayhap in curses
because he lost a case which he had not funds
enough to properly prepare. He throws eth
les overheard in disgust eventually, and when
he does SO, when he sails out on the sea of life
as kind of privateer and captures cases, he
is denominated shyster. He joins then the
grand army of disreputables, and is among,
but not of them; for the shyster, pure and
simple, is generally legal confidence man,
preying upon his clients while instigating
them to prey upon others.
The shyster's name is legion. He works
quietly and rakes in his fees religiously. He
is debarred from association with reputable
lawyers, but he makes money, and generally,
in addition to his irregular law business, he
conducts a money lending business at the
usual usurous rates of interest. There is al
ways one good feature about the shyster, and
that is lie subscribes for the daily paper but
even this is not good, inasmuch as the means
| do not justify the end any more than the end
| justities the means.
SUSCEPTIBLE TOOL.
The shyster gets his sustenance from the
unfortunate whom he forces into proceedings
for damages. He becomes III the practice of
his peculiar branch of business blackmaler
of the corporations of the city and of the
clients themselves. To such an extent has tue
| righteousness of these irregular damage prac-
titioners gone that reputable lawyer hest
tates nowadays, before going into court to sue
| for damages from fear that he will be classed
I as one of these bloodsuckers and legal harpies.
! Once shyster gets damage case his pro
| ceedings are u mixture of subordination of
| perjury and blackmail. He turns up wit
nesses to testify to q state of facts to give
! color and form to claim, and this being done,
| he negotiates with the party or parties sued
4 for settlement with him as representative
! of his client If the settlement is effected he
| obtains the lions share of the money, and the
! client is told that that share is his fee for the
| herculean endeavors in his behalf.
In divorce proceedings, too, the shyster
| shines with no dim luminosity Through his
! Vaccinations trivial disputes between man
| and wife are magnified into grounds for
divorce, through him the detestable system of
espionage upon men and women has grown
up and disreputable detective testimony is
used to breed suspicion, distrust and open
r tl,Ot hi
roll into his pocket. Through the shyster in
fluence the number of grounds for divorce in
the statutes is increased steadily, and at
tempts to reduce them for the good of social
! morals and tho maintenance of recognizable
\ relationship are defeated through the power
! he brings to bear upon legislatures. if he does
| not happen to be elected as law maker HIM
| self. On the law Of libel, too, the shyster is
! strong, and to the end that he may bleed the
J newspapers he reads them every day, and nc
| mans name appears therein who is not liable
to a call from representative of some shy
ster to inform him that he has grounds for
action for libel.
BOUNDING DOWN CORPORATIONS.
| The Mark NEEDLES exist in great numbers
| and their efforts to obtain cases are NOR,
dcspicable if not as ludicrous as those of til,
little man who would fain be kicked by tn,
| dramatis persona In "London Assurance.
| The shyster reads the columns of the news
| papers for the reports of accidents to in
I dividuals, reports of arrests, of differences
. I between man and wife appearing in the
lower courts One attorney has prepared
printed circular which he sends out to sucl
! persons as may be injured in accident
throughout the city.
Another circular recently issued by law
yer who makes a speciality of entrapping PEG
/, | pie into divorce proceedings 1t happened t.
be addressed to person who hadn't taken TIN
preliminary step toward divorce proceeding
!, that is, he had not as yet got married
! though he expected to be in a short time. IL
, thought it n practical joke until he learned
| that the circular was sent out in all serious
; ness though in this particular instance Their
had been a mistake in addressing the ell
velope. The circular was SO arranged that
blank was left for the word sir or madam
1t is not often lawyers such as those alluded
) to intrust these matters to the mails, though
of late such practice has become more com
mon than formerly. Usually the shyster ha
Grummers out, fellows that seem to work TO
nothing more than lush money, who call o.
| the persons who it is suspected would listel
to their advances. The drummer is general,
4 hummer, and the wonder is that he succeed
as well as he does.
All the little tricks of the shysters trad
could not be exposed in a newspaper article
The law is disgraced by men dubbed attor
neys who through influence of some kind o
another suddenly cease practice as BARRIERS o
thinkers or saloon keepers or cooks, and talk
the cases of people into courts, sacrificing thei
unfortunate clients to increase their bank &C
counts. The shyster of the criminal courts
it SO fortunately happens, is valuable ad
junct to the administration OF justice in con
victing the men he tries to acquit but hi
general characteristics and practices are thos
of swindlers AMI bunco steerers.-Glob
Democrat
A Cure for Corns Wanted